Lullaby
by Gracie Jane
Summary: An AragornEowyn one-shot (obviously AU). The royal couple tuck their kiddies into bed. Rated PG for some light innuendo.


Hello everyone! Here's another of my Aragorn/Eowyn one-shots. There's no Arwen bashing in it (Arwen isn't in it at all), and I ask that Arwen lovers don't turn all violent on me, because this story isn't saying anything bad about Arwen, it's just a celebration of what could have been between Éowyn and Aragorn. It's a nice, fluffy one-shot. I wrote it as a vignette for _Elfsheen_, an awesome A/E forum.

Disclaimer: Tolkien owns all of this spiffy stuff. I love it and mean no disrespect, and am not making any money from this.

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"Go to sleep, dear," Éowyn said, tucking her young son into bed. "We have a big day tomorrow."

"We do?" Eldarion asked, sleep and curiosity both fighting to get the best of him.

"Yes. Uncle Éomer and Aunt Lothiriel should arrive. Now shut your eyes."

"Uncle Éomer?" Eldarion asked excitedly. "Will he take me riding? Will he, Mama?"

"I dare say he will, but you don't want to be falling asleep in the saddle."

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"You are as beautiful as your mother," Aragorn told the small, dark-haired bundle in his arms. The baby girl let out a particularly piercing wail. "And twice as difficult," Aragorn said, beginning to pace back and forth on the balcony as he rocked her. The child had nothing like colic or any other excuse for her frequent bouts of screaming, only obstinacy. She despised falling asleep, and one thing alone could soothe her.

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"Last time he said that when I'm big enough he'll bring me a war-horse!" Eldarion said. "Do you think that I'm big enough, Mama?"

"Not just yet, darling."

"How old were you when you got your first horse?" the prince wanted to know.

"I was a big girl of twelve," Éowyn replied.

Eldarion endeavored to count that out on his fingers, but gave up and shut his eyes.

"Don't worry, you'll be a young man much too soon for my taste," Éowyn said, kissing his forehead and smoothing out the bedclothes.

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"Morwen, you shall have quite the battle cry someday." He continued rocking her back and forth. "Hopefully you will never need to find out." A wind picked up in the south and Aragorn held his daughter closer, singing a few verses from the Lay of Luthien. Morwen quieted immediately, if not completely. She relaxed, still giving the occasional hiccupy sob.

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"Ada's singing," Eldarion said drowsily, curling up into a ball. The Elvish lay drifted through his open window and soothed the boy from tiredness into slumber.

Éowyn smiled softly, brushed her son's hair back and tiptoed out of the room.

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"She is finally asleep," Aragorn whispered to his wife, gently placing the princess in her cradle. Together he and Éowyn walked back onto the balcony. "Morwen is very much like you – she will not be persuaded against her own inclinations," Aragorn said.

"And Eldarion is what you must have been – full of questions and mischief and noble intentions."

"To be honest, my mother always said I was a trying child," Aragorn confessed.

Éowyn laughed and leaned over the balcony's edge, looking at the moon above. "In his last letter Éomer informed me that I am still a trying child, which is ridiculous since I have long since been his match if not his superior in maturity."

"I hope they do not fight much," Aragorn said, looking back towards Eldarion's room and the nursery.

"I hope they do!"

"And why is that?"

"It's good for them," Éowyn said. "Éomer and I could scarcely speak two words to each other without an argument while I was a teenager. After that our relationship was unshakable. And anyway, it may seem like a great age difference now but Eldarion is not quite four – they will be close, I am sure."

"So," Aragorn said after a moment, "do you think having a third child would be good for them?" A smile lit up his face and Éowyn did not fail to catch the look in his eye. "It could teach them responsibility."

"I believe that responsibility is an important quality to instill in children," Éowyn said in mock seriousness, then took her husband's hand and walked back into their royal bedchamber.

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Please review, everyone! I love reviews very much. They're like cupcakes! But no flames, flames are like when you try to bake cupcakes and end up with a batter-y explosion in the oven (okay, so maybe I'm not the best in the kitchen, LOL!).


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